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Saturday Smiles: Fun facts about St. Patrick’s Day

St. Patrick’s given name was Maewyn Succat; he was born in Britain and he wasn’t always a Christian. Kidnapped and sold into slavery in Ireland when he was 16, it’s believed that he formed his religious beliefs during this time. After escaping back to England, he became ordained as a priest and then returned to Ireland to convert the Celts to Christianity.

Shamrocks have long been associated with St. Patrick because legend has it that he used a three-leaved clover or shamrock to explain the concept of The Holy Trinity – The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit – and how they could all exist as separate elements of the same entity.

Why do we wear green? Most sources credit the shamrock: St. Patrick’s followers adopted the custom of wearing a shamrock on his feast day, which led to the phrase and later the song “the wearing of the green“. As going all-out-green seems to be a U.S. tradition, there’s also the possibility that those of us wishing to become Irish for the day have chosen the green of the Irish flag to express our Irishness. Superstition may also play a part — word on the street is that if you wear green a leprechaun can’t see you, but if you don’t wear green he’ll see you and pinch you.

Where does the saying “Kiss me, I’m Irish” come from? This one’s a bit tricky to nail down but the consensus seems to be that kissing the Blarney Stone brings you good luck, but if you can’t kiss the Blarney Stone, the next best thing is to kiss an Irish person.